(ThyBlackMan.com) We all want to be healthier, and the easier something is the more likely we are to do it. With that in mind, here are six easy ways you can start being healthier starting today:
The easiest things you can do to be more healthy is to take a daily walk. It doesn’t matter how fast you walk, or far how far you go, the mere act of getting up and getting moving will make your body healthier overall. Plus it helps you maintain a healthy weight, and it’s always nice to get fresh air and sunshine.
Of course, once you make walking a daily routine you’ll likely want to step up the pace, increase the distance, or even start lightly jogging. It could be said that walking is a gateway to even more exercise and healthy habits.
One of the best ways to stick with a new healthy habit is to make yourself feel that you are still getting something that you want. The success of the book Eat This, Not That is proof that we are more likely to make healthier choices if the alternative choice is still delicious and something we want to eat.
Another example would be switching to vaping instead of smoking cigarettes. That allows you to have precise control over the amount of nicotine you have while also avoiding the unhealthy additives in cigarettes. You can step down in increments by buying e-liquids that have lower and lower nicotine levels.
Most of us do not get enough water, opting for other beverages like sodas, coffee, and energy drinks. But these additional beverages don’t help hydrate us and it’s important to get the right amount of water each day so our bodies can function the way they’re supposed to.
To find out how much water you should drink each day take your body weight, divide it in half, and drink that many ounces of water every day. It’s best to do it gradually if you haven’t been drinking enough water, don’t just start drinking lots more all at once. Slowly step it up until you are drinking the right amount.
It is sometimes hard to focus on getting good sleep, but it is so important to our overall health and well-being that any sort of sleep deficit will drag you down in the long run. Try to get 7 to 9 hours a night for adults, and make sure you are sleeping in a very dark, very quiet room.
You may even want to check out the sleep stats from an activity tracker (see below) and see if there is anything you can discern as far as your sleeping habits go. You might find out you take too long to fall asleep and you should adjust your nighttime routine accordingly until you see those numbers correct themselves.
Tracking your activity with today’s state-of-the-art activity trackers is not only fun but will give you insight into how much activity you’re getting. They also show stats and correlations like letting you know when you have climbed Mount Kilimanjaro based on the amount of stairs you’ve climbed since wearing the tracker.
You can get into friendly competitions with your relatives and close friends by sharing your tracking data with them. That might be motivation enough to get up and exercise when you would otherwise just see what’s on Netflix.
One of the easiest and best ways to get healthier is to stretch, it helps loosen the body and break up energy blockages making you feel lighter and better. You don’t have to stretch until it hurts, you should stretch to the point where it still feels good and then hold that stretch for 10 seconds. You’ll eventually get more flexible and be able to stretch further with it still feeling good.
Staff Writer; Terry Jones
